The only reason this website seems to work is because it belongs to Gwenyth Paltrow. I haven’t found anyone who ‘gets it’.

Goop does not embrace internet terms.

A web magazine written by one person about their life is called a blog.

Goop can call its posts ‘articles’ all it wants but in doing so alienates itself from the blogging community. I could see the use of another term if this website was launched five years ago when blogs weren’t nearly as prevalent . But nowadays, bloggers are used as experts on television news programs and followed by media types on social media for story tips.

Bloggers are far from obscure and distancing yourself from a group of people also trying to create online content seems like a silly thing to do. Let’s not mention the fact that bloggers spend a lot of their time talking about and linking to other websites. Not one of them? That certainly makes it hard to become part of the community.

It’s unclear whether the site is compensated for the products it endorses.

A whole section of Goop is called ‘Get’ and seems to endorse cool products. No where on the site could I find policies about these products. Does Gwyneth Paltrow receive financial or other compensation for putting these products on her site? Does she personally use them? It’s hard to say.

As a reader of the site, I’d like to know. A simple ‘About’ section of ‘FAQ’ would do wonders at answering some small questions about the site and its policies.

Goop doesn’t link to other sites.

Not linking to other sites makes you 1) less connected with other web developers and 2) doesn’t help your search engine ranking. This is why all bloggers have a blogroll or list of links we like: because it’s good for us and good for the people we link to.

Not having many (or perhaps any) links off the site seems like a missed opportunity, not only for increased traffic to Goop but also for Paltrow to use her star power to help out smaller sites. You can’t buy the kind of good buzz that would create.

<
div>In short, celebrities can get away with things the rest of us can’t.

Most regular people can’t get away with a ‘this is stuff i like’ blog, if only because most of us have a limited audience. There are probably 30 people in my life who would care about everything Nicole Ouellette likes in my case. I am not Oprah, and this is why my blog entries have an undercurrent of money and marketing. It is why most blogs have a topic or subject they are about: more universal appeal.

What is Goop about? Whatever Gwenyth Paltrow feels like needs to be covered that particular week.

As my Twitter friend Marc Pitman puts it, it looks like Goop is “trying to do WAY too much”. I agree.

Some people do like a website that covers a lot of ground though, but for those of us who like to know what to expect, it’d be great if there’d be a preview of what’s coming up. No doubt the staff that maintains this site plans ahead for content and letting readers in on the not-so-distant future offerings I think would lead to increased overall satisfaction with readers.

Also, it would be great if Goop engaged it’s readers in some way. Featuring helpful comments in the weekly newsletter or having reader guest bloggers would no doubt increase Goop’s appeal and further connect it to other cool things going on online.

While Goop has interesting written content and a clean design, the posts have no photos.

The posts on Goop are text heavy; it would be great to have some graphic elements to get the content more skimmable and make the website prettier. Perhaps this is a place where readers could contribute if they knew about the topic ahead of time. Just an idea…

In short, Goop is not the world’s most terrible website but it could further its mission with some thoughtful tweaks and increased reader engagement.

Know an individual or business doing something cool to promote themselves online? Let me know about it and they might be featured as part of Marketing Monday.

This week’s inspiration actually came to me as I was driving in the middle of a snow/ice storm back home from Christmas festivities.

A radio ad in the middle of the Maine woods had the familiar Marden’s jingle but urged me to join Marden’s on Facebook and Twitter. I especially perked up when they mentioned to visit the Marden’s website to see the weekly flyer before it got into the newspapers.

For those of you less familiar, Marden’s is a Maine institution, known in part for its cheesy catchy jingle “I should have bought it, when I saw it, at Mardens!” and for its great deals on everything. (If you don’t have to feed it, Marden’s sells it.) It’s a salvage store with locations across the state, meaning its inventory is not only location dependent but also constantly changing.

Marden’s would no doubt be a success in Maine regardless of publicity (Mainers are in general a practical people who love a deal) but all it’s promotional efforts have made Mardens the success it is today.

I first came across the Maine Maven site a couple years ago. It’s one of those blogs I subscribe to that’s kind of like a good old friend: no matter how long it’s been, I seem to be able to pick up right where I left off.

Know an individual or business doing cool things with marketing/promotion both online and off? Let me know about it; I am always looking for ideas!

I spent this past weekend skiing in New Hampshire. I have a couple of friends who are members of ski clubs in the Mount Washington area and this weekend was the kickoff of the ski season for the Eastern Inter-Club Ski League or EISCL (pronounced “ice-sill”) at Bretton Woods. I attended as a guest, helping my friends at the registration table in exchange for a free lift ticket.

I later found out that the whole event was underwritten by Jack Frost Ski Shop, located in Glen New Hampshire.

Sadly, this was not obvious to me at the event but the good news is I learned a lot about the Jack Frost Ski Shop anyway. Here are some things we can all learn from them, and what I think could be improved upon:

Every Monday, I profile a person or company doing cool things to market themselves online and offline. Got an idea for me? Let me know!

This Marketing Monday was not inspired by my happening upon something cool in the digital world but something I saw in the real world which reminded me of the power of retail.

One of my friends hosted a girls’ weekend at her place in Vermont these last few days. Besides hanging out and catching up in a general way, we also did a few fun local things, one of them being a visit to King Arthur Flour, seemingly one of the area’s largest employers.

I would like to say I am not a shopper. I am a get in and get out kind of girl when it comes to a retail experience. Also I am not a baker. Stopping at a store that sells flour sounded about as fun to me as visiting the dentist while watching paint dry. But when you’re with friends, you go along with this sort of thing and try to have an open mind.

Twenty minutes later, I was a convert. I left the store with French style flour and a baguette pan. I happily handed over money. King Arthur had successfully made me, a self proclaimed terrible baker, want to make the perfect bread. In my opinion, here’s what King Arthur is doing right:

Every Monday, I focus on a person or company doing something cool to promote themselves online. Know a rockin internet marketing campaign? Let me know about it!

A couple weeks ago, I decided to start my own business Facebook page. The same day, my friend Sherry (who happened to attend a talk I did about social media and who I went to high school with) decided to do the same thing for her massage business.

By the end of the day, I had some serious jealousy issues. I had 25 fans and she had… over 100. I figured I could be petty and sulky, or I could ask her what she did and how she’s planning on using it. Here’s our interview, appropriately over Facebook: